Protect natural gender counseling: Oppose AB 2943

Oppose AB 2943 -- Let people choose their own counselor

Bill Status: This unconstitutional bill was SHELVED on 8/31/18.

"Californians who love liberty are thrilled that this dangerous, unfair, and unconstitutional bill has been dropped," said Randy Thomasson, President of SaveCalifornia.com in response to AB 2943 being pulled by its author. "We thank every patriotic citizen who took action to oppose AB 2943, an un-American bill that should never have been introduced." See Randy's full statement.

Bill History:

On August 16, AB 2943 passed the California State Senate (nearly all Democrats for, most Republicans against) and has been sent back to the Assembly floor for a "concurrence vote." See the Aug. 16 CBN News story.

On July 2, this unconstitutional bill was sent to the Senate floor without a hearing and without any amendments (this was done via Senate Rule 28.8). On June 12, this anti-freedom, anti-choice bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee (which has 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans) -- see the AP story. In April, the bill passed the California State Assembly (news story). Voting yes were 48 Democrats and 2 Republicans (Catharine Baker and Brian Maienschein).

FACTS ABOUT AB 2943:

Authored by 8 homosexual-activist Democrats, AB 2943 would, for all practical purposes, prohibit California adults from choosing to obtain professional, expert counseling to help them overcome their unwanted homosexual desires or gender confusion.

AB 2943 would accomplish this by attempting to expel from California moral counselors who offer to help adults overcome unwanted "LGBT" feelings.

The bill's digest reads, "This bill would include, as an unlawful practice prohibited under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, advertising, offering for sale, or selling services constituting sexual orientation change efforts, as defined, to an individual."

In addition, AB 2943 would censor the religious speech of churches, para-church ministries, and pastors if they hold a conference or event or sell a book about overcoming same-sex desires.

The bill's text is very broad: "Sexual orientation change efforts” means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.

As Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) explains:

At its core, AB 2943 outlaws speech, whether offered by a licensed counselor, a best-selling author, or even a minister or religious leader. It targets a specific message—that an adult who is experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion can find help to address those issues—for censorship. The breadth of this censorship is staggering. Under AB 2943:

• A licensed counselor could not help a married mother of three who is experiencing unwanted attraction to a close female friend or confusion over her gender identity overcome those feelings;

• A religious ministry could not hold a conference on maintaining sexual purity if the conference encourages attendees to avoid homosexual behavior;

• A bookstore (including online bookstores like Amazon) could not sell many recently published books challenging gender identity ideology and advocating that these beliefs should be rejected by society; and

• A pastor paid to speak at an event addressing current social topics could not encourage attendees that they can prevail over same-sex desires or feelings that they were born the wrong sex.

In these scenarios, there is a transaction (the counselor’s payment; the conference attendance fees; the cost of the book; and the pastor’s speaking fee) that triggers AB 2943. And under the bill, a person or organization who is paid by a consumer for goods or services cannot engage in any practice—including pure speech—that tells someone that they can overcome unwanted same-sex attraction or gender identity confusion.

AB 2943 comes six years after California's Democrat legislators passed a law forbidding parents from getting counseling for their molested children to help them overcome sexual confusion.